The suicide of transgender teen Leelah Alcorn is gaining national attention in part because of a note she left behind, pleading simply for her death to resonate.
Alcorn, of Kings Mills, Ohio, was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on I-71 about 2:30 a.m. last Sunday morning, according to local media reports.
This was no accident, either. Posthumous posts started to appear on her Tumblr, titled "Lazer Princess," including a suicide note and apology to friends.
"My death needs to mean something," she wrote.
Leelah Alcorn, an Ohio transgender teen born Joshua Alcorn, has taken her own life, and left behind a suicide note begging for that to mean something.
"My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say 'that's f---ed up' and fix it."
"Fix society. Please."
Alcorn's note describes how she has felt like a girl in a boy's body since age four, and how she cried with joy when she learned at age 14 what transgender meant.
"After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was," the suicide note reads, but she did not receive the kind of support she was looking for at home.
"I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn't make mistakes."
"That I am wrong."
Alcorn's mother was criticized after the teenager's death for referring to her child by her given name, Joshua Ryan Alcorn, and using male pronouns, writing:
"My sweet 16 year old son, Joshua Ryan Alcorn went home to heaven this morning. He was out for an early morning walk and was hit by a truck."
[NOTE: Multiple media reports have listed Leelah Alcorn's age as 17, while her mother says 16. It's unclear which is correct, but the tragedy is unchanged]
Alcorn requested that all of her belongings and savings be donated to transgender movements and support groups, and has become a phenomenon online.
Many social media users took to Twitter to mourn her death using #LeelahAlcorn and criticize the continued injustice facing transgender people today.
Similarly, members of the LGBT community have organized candlelight vigils for Alcorn, including #StandUp4Leelah at 7 p.m. Friday in Columbus, Ohio.
Open the gallery above for more pictures of Leelah, and to read her suicide note in full as we reflect and contemplate her life, which we did not need to lose.
R.I.P.
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